Kirk Herbstreit believes Georgia on the doorstep of usurping Alabama

Are we due for a new king of college football? ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit seems to think so.

“Everywhere we travel with College GameDay – it could be anywhere,” Herbstreit said after Georgia‘s 42-41 victory over Ohio State on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt. “There’s always a ‘We want ‘Bama’ chant. We’ve kind of kidded this year that they might need to consider changing that chant to ‘We want Georgia.’

“Now, it’s a little premature, they just won a semifinal game. But if they climb that mountain again next Monday, then they are. They are that team earned the right not to just be with Alabama – I think they’ll be a program that a lot of people look at as – they’re the new bar in the sport with Kirby Smart.”

Herbstreit’s claim follows Georgia’s second-straight College Football Playoff National Championship game berth in as many seasons. Following a 2021 campaign that saw one of the strongest teams top-to-bottom in college football history, especially on defense, it didn’t seem possible that Georgia could have a more impressive season – but they have.

Undefeated SEC and now Peach Bowl champions, the Bulldogs will roll into the CFP final against the TCU Horned Frogs as a whopping 13-point favorite. To Herbie, that’s not a fluke – Georgia, much like Alabama for the better part of 15 years, is on a completely different playing field than the rest of college football.

Still, TCU has been an underdog all season long. Picked to finish seventh in the Big-12 preseason poll, the Horned Frogs have defied all odds and are one win away from a shocking the sports world as national champions. That double-digit line surely doesn’t faze Max Duggan, Deuce Vaughn and the rest of the TCU unforgettables.

The national championship game is scheduled for next Monday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET live from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.